Horizon Point Consulting

Author: Mary Ila Ward

  • 2 Reasons You Should Consider Dual Career Ladders

    2 Reasons You Should Consider Dual Career Ladders

    Being in a leadership role seems to be the ideal in most companies. Leading is what people strive for, and in most cases I think this is the norm because it is the only path by which advancement can take place. Want to move up and get paid more? Well then you have to lead and manage others.

    Another way to help people grow

    A client we’re working with is considering dual career ladders for the organization. With this organizational structure, there are advancement opportunities into the traditional route of leadership, but there is also a path by which people can grow by demonstrating technical expertise in their field.

    Why you should consider dual career ladders

    Dual career ladders may be a good route for your company because:

    1. Not Everyone is suited for or has the desire to get work done through others. Quite frankly, some people would rather do the work themselves and may be best suited to do so. Getting work done through others can be extremely challenging, and for some, can be draining instead of stimulation. If people are in roles that are constantly proving to be draining instead of energizing, productivity will suffer. Which leads to the 2nd reason to consider dual career paths…

    2.  Dual Paths can help your company be more successful. By placing people in the roles where they contribute the most, the company gains success through talent.

    Dual career paths may not be feasible for all companies due to size of the organization or the nature of the work, but the structure begs the question for any organization about how to provide opportunities for people to advance and grow in their careers.

    The best place to start if you are considering how to determine who is best suited for an expert role or a leadership role is to assess your talent. There are a variety of instruments that are effective for this purpose (email us if you want some recommendations), but the most important way to assess people for advancement opportunities is to ask the hard but simple question, do you want to lead? It’s much easier for people to honestly answer “no” if there is an option to grow in their career through another path. I think we hear the answer “yes” to the question do you want to lead more than we should because it’s the only option.

  • Chart Out your Cover Letter to Stand Out

    Chart Out your Cover Letter to Stand Out

    To include a cover letter or not to include one? Some say no if it’s not asked for, citing it’s a waste of time. Why would you think a hiring manager or recruiter would look at a cover letter if they only spend six seconds on average looking at a resume?

    However, having a cover letter that actually makes it easy for a recruiter to see if you meet the qualifications for the position could help you stand out in a way that gets you an interview. The key is:

    1. Do you meet all the qualifications for the position?
    2. If you do, then chart it out for them.

    For example, let’s just take the requirements from a posting that came up when we did a search for “Registered Nurse” on Indeed:

    Education:

    • Graduate of an accredited School of Nursing.
    • Current appropriate state licensure
    • Must meet the practice requirements in the state in which he of she is employed.

    Experience and Required Skills:

    • Minimum of one-year medical-surgical nursing experience preferred.
    • Hemodialysis experience preferred.
    • ICU experience prefferred.
    • Successfully complete a training course in the theory and practice of hemodialysis.
    • Successfully complete CPR Certicication.
    • Employees have to meet the necessary requirements of Ishihara’s Color Blindness test as a
    • condition of employment.
    • Provide coverage at any or all area facilities as required by management.
    • Icd-9 Training.
    • Nurses Technical Training
    • Must meet appropriate state requirements(if any)

     

    A cover letter should have a chart that looks like this:

    Your Requirements

    My Qualifications
    Graduate of an accredited School of Nursing BSN of Nursing from University X, 2000

     
    Current appropriate state licensure Alabama State License number XXXXX
    Minimum of on-year medical-surgical nursing experience preferred Three years experience as a medical surgical nurse at XYZ hospital
    Hemodialysis experience preferred 2 years experience at XYZ hospital performing hemodialysis
    You get the picture- keep filling the chart in…. You get the picture- keep filling the chart in….

    This only works if you meet the requirements for the opening. So just like on a resume , experience matters, whether we like it or not.

    Beyond_Ready_Cover-smaller

    Our Beyond Work™Workbook is chalked full of practical tools on resume writing, interviewing, networking and social media branding to help you seize the career you want. Order yours today for $19.99!

  • 4 Criteria for Creativity: Women Working or Drones?

    4 Criteria for Creativity: Women Working or Drones?

    What’s more creative:  1) drones delivering a Kindle to your door in 30 minutes or less or 2) women working?

    According to Fast Company’s  100 Most Creative People in Business, women in the workplace, in Saudi Arabia at least, is more creative. Princess Reema Bint Bandar Al-Saud topped the list of most creative people in business by inviting Saudi women to work.

    Quoted as saying, “You cannot have half your population not working,” the princess emphasizes why an “innovation” with people is more important than technology that allows all kinds of things to be delivered to your door as quickly as a pizza. Not only more important, but also more of a challenge.

    But is extending the invitation to work to half the population creative, or something entirely different? This example illustrates that in order for something to be truly creative, the following has to be present:

    1. Conventional thinking has to be challenged. In a country where it is illegal for women to drive, women working challenges conventional thinking.
    2. Risks have to be involved. Again, in a country where it is illegal for women to drive, risks are involved in inviting women to work.
    3. Impact extends beyond the original intent. Might it be made legal for women to drive because women are working? It may necessitate a legislative change eventually.
    4. Positive gains are made and results are achieved. As reported in the article, “The Riyadh department store-which opened in 2000 as Harvey Nichols’s first location outside the U.K. – weathered a 42% drop in profit last year, partly because of opposition to the female sales force and partly because of loyalty to the far-more-seasoned salesmen it replaced.” Time will tell if this creative intervention will lead to business results. But maybe, just maybe, this example goes to show that you get more points for creativity if societal results are achieved at the possible short-term detriment to business results. See #2 above. As the princess said, “The second a woman is responsible for her own finances, she’ll want to explore more of the world for herself and become less dependent.”

    What’s the most creative people intervention or idea have you ever witnessed?

    You may also like:  What Employers Want: Creativity

  • You Get 6 Seconds: Think Like a Recruiter when drafting your resume.

    You Get 6 Seconds: Think Like a Recruiter when drafting your resume.

    Count to six. What do you think you could get accomplished in this amount of time? Not much, but a recruiter has already reviewed your resume and moved on to the next one by the time you can get to seven.

    The Honest Truth.

    Hiring managers and recruiters, at least when it comes to making decisions based on a resume, don’t care about anything but your experience and your education if it’s required for the job.

    Someone may tell you having phrases like “highly motivated”,   “self-starter”, “strong interpersonal skills”, etc. need to be on your resume, but you can’t prove that you are these things simply by putting them down on paper.

    The cold hard facts that can be put on paper, and therefore, as the video shows, where recruiters focus their time:

    1. Where you’ve worked and for how long
    2. What education you’ve obtained

    And that is what the powers that be look at. You may be able to prove to them in an interview that you are, in fact, a “self-starter”, but stick to the concrete stuff on a resume. Where you’ve worked and for how long matters- whether we like it or not.

  • An Ode to Mollie and All High School Graduates: Seek Joy

    An Ode to Mollie and All High School Graduates: Seek Joy

    It’s that time of year. The cusp of summer means high school and college graduations. The end of something and the start of another. A time of transition.

    Mollie, a high school Co-Op student who has worked with us, graduates today.  She’s been a sheer joy to work with because of her sweet spirit and willingness to do anything and everything without a question or complaint even when I’ve dumped mind-numbing spreadsheet work on her.   She has done an outstanding job writing most of our Thursday blogs this spring, giving great advice to students and parents about career and college preparation.  And most importantly, she is great with my kids. Her curly hair, our son has found, is the best race track for toy cars.  Mollie, thanks for letting him turn your head into a race track!

    As I think about what advice to give to Mollie or any graduating senior, I can’t say it any better than country music (and definitely not better than Sandra Bullock). In the words of Darius Rucker, realize “It won’t be like this for long.”   So ENJOY it.

    Enjoy it by finding the root of the word- joy.  In the words of Sandra (Bullock that is) at her surprise graduation speech this week, “It’s the joy that stays with you.”

    Find joy in:

    1. The work you end up pursuing
    2. In people

    Mollie wrote about wanting to be a Child Life Specialist.  After a particularly trying set of medical tests this past week with our son, we realized the value of a Child Life Specialist during one procedure with him.  Mollie, you’d be great at this.  But don’t give up on the dream job of antique hunting.  You can do both, and being a child life specialist is kind of like babysitting.

    Most of all, Mollie, and all graduating seniors out there, share in joy with others. You’d be great as a Child Life Specialist because you would bring joy to children and parents through who you are.

    Mollie, we sure have enjoyed you- thank you.  Keep being you and the world will continue to be more joy-filled because you are here.

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